It was advice that Al Michaels gave Andrea Kremer when NBC had hired her to work as a sideline reporter for Sunday Night Football.

“You are somewhere we are not,” Michaels said. “Be our eyes and ears.”

On Sunday, Eskimos first-year head coach Chris Jones decided to kneecap us eyes-and-ears types and closed his team’s locker room to the media.

This doesn’t mean that access to players and coaches has been fully revoked. We’ll get our interviews on field after practices and I assume that the locker-room will be open post-games. And I know that six other teams in the league already employ this practice, but this is the first time in 65 years that the Eskimos – a community owned team – have gone this route.

“The players’ locker room is their sanctuary,” Jones said. “This is a place where the football players go each and every day and they confide in each other and they don’t have to worry about who’s in there. That’s the reason we’re doing it, is for the players.”

“Understand that your access to the players is not going to change,” Esks GM Ed Hervey added. “When we discussed it, it was about the players having a place where they can have their privacy and I think people can relate to that.”

Right.

I really don’t enjoy sitting down and writing media relations disaster stories about this organization, but here’s why this matters. Where do you think you’re going to have a better conversation with an athlete: On the field, under the sun after a two-plus hour practice, where all that this guy (and rightly so) wants to do is sit down, get his equipment off and take a breather? Or in the locker room after he’s done all of that? Which scenario do you think you get better quotes in? Which scenario produces better stories?

The end result of this is that however you ingest your Eskimos news — whether you’re a reader, a viewer or a listener — your getting unique, interesting content just took a big hit.

For a reporter, that locker room was where we got to know the players and where they grew more comfortable through the season around us. It’s where small talk happened and where relationships were built, which all contribute to better, more personal stories, whether that’s on an individual player or the team as a whole. The locker room is the most honest glimpse you’ll get of a team’s day-to-day existence. Rich Stubler told me in 2011 that the locker room is everything.

It is, for players and media. And that’s been pulled out from under us.

It’s no one’s job to make my day-to-day work fun, but it used to be fun to cover this team. Interview requests were almost always granted, because, why wouldn’t they be? You didn’t feel like it was a huge ask when you requested the GM to talk about a player he scouted and was the only key remaining piece of the organization left from the last three years to speak on him (that request was denied). You used to be able to pick the GM’s brain on his players, on things around the league. I’d need no more than two hands to count how often that’s happened in the last year and a half.

Simple requests, like trying to get Len Rhodes, the team president and CEO to talk about Mike Reilly’s marketability, should be no-brainer, of-course-we’ll-talk-with-you stuff. Acknowledging your franchise player’s place in the community and the league, even with him playing through his option year isn’t going to ruin the negotiations that the Eskimos haven’t engaged in since December anyway.

I was ready for the worst this year. Hervey promises he’ll be more accessible this time around, that he won’t duck out and go silent if things go south and the Esks lose eight games in a row, like he did last year. I’m in the believe-it-when-I-see-it camp on that one, hoping for the accessibility that other GMs around the league regularly offer up.

I was fully prepared for Chris Jones to one-word answer questions, but surprised to hear he’s shrugged off some rights holder’s halftime or post-game on-field interviews, and as it happened last week, accuse media of letting secrets out of the bag when he’s asked about stuff that’s on a depth chart that everyone in the league can see. Having the locker-room would have balanced that out, would have let us have the chance to get answers that were genuine and provided insight.

This isn’t the first time the idea of closing the room was kicked around. It was an issue three years ago when Kavis Reed took the head coach job. Dave Jamieson was the team’s VP of communications, broadcast and marketing at the time and he didn’t let the plan get off the ground. Jamieson was good at his job and regarded around the league as the best at what he did. This time around, it was out of everyone’s hands at every level.

The blind support of Jones on this suggests that everyone needed to get on board with their coach because this is part of the plan that will put last year’s four-win season to bed, will have the people in walk-up ticket booths busier on game days this year.

Still, the Eskimos won 13 Grey Cups with their locker room open. I mentioned that at the availability today and got an answer from Hervey about how he wanted to talk about his roster and how they’re excited about this year.

Maybe the team’s fall from grace in the last nine years is the media’s fault. If so, I’ll take this moment to apologize to the Esks’ fans for not being able to protect Mike Reilly last year, or for installing a defensive scheme that the players didn’t buy in to, then sticking with it an entire season while every running back in the league went Tecmo Bowl all over it for a league-worst 2,623 yards allowed. Unbeknownst to me, I signed off on the Ricky Ray trade, apparently.

I left Sunday’s availability shaking my head, saying the three words that I’ve regrettably been married to for the last two years in dealing, or attempting to deal with this organization.

What a joke.

]]>http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/eyes-and-ears-get-blinders-and-earmuffs-the-eskimos-locker-room-is-closed/feed0The village of Lamagaon in the Tsum Valley, as seen from a helicopter.olearychrisEdmonton Eskimos GM Ed Hervey fires head coach Kavis Reed, looking for "guy like me"http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/edmonton-eskimos-gm-ed-hervey-fires-head-coach-kavis-reed-looks-for-guy-like-me
http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/edmonton-eskimos-gm-ed-hervey-fires-head-coach-kavis-reed-looks-for-guy-like-me#respondMon, 04 Nov 2013 22:39:34 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=183142]]>Eskimos GM Ed Hervey officially dismissed head coach Kavis Reed on Monday and launched the organization’s search for the 20th head man in franchise history.

Hervey said he is looking for a head coach who is “a guy like me,” meaning more attentive to detail, and so forth.

The search will take in candidates from Canada and with CFL experience to the U.S., including men without any experience in the CFL, Hervey said.

Hervey made the announcement with a cluster of current Eskimos players in the room for the brief news conference, including quarterback Mike Reilly, running back Calvin McCarty, long snapper Ryan King, linebackers J.C. Sherritt and T.J. Hill, punter/placekicker Grant Shaw, defensive back Chris Thompson.

The team announced on Monday morning on its website that Reed will not return for the 2014 season. A brief statement from general manager Ed Hervey acknowledged the move.

“We thank Kavis for his dedication and hard work over the past three seasons and wish him the best in the future,” Hervey said.

Reed’s departure marks the second firing of the year. The Montreal Alouettes fired coach Dan Hawkins on Aug. 1. The firing may have come faster for Reed than he expected. On Sunday in his end-of-season meeting with the media, he spoke of taking the first few days of this week to go through final meetings with his coaching staff and Hervey.

Reed compiled a 22-32 record in his three seasons with the Eskimos and was signed to a one-year contract extension in Week 2 of the 2013 Canadian Football League season. This year’s team lost eight consecutive games at one point and five in a row before its season-ending win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday.

Hervey will speak with the media at 2 p.m.

More to come…

]]>http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/eskimos-fire-coach-kavis-reed/feed0olearychrisEdmonton Eskimos head coach Kavis Reed talks about eliminating the 'noise' in final media scrumhttp://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/edmonton-eskimos-head-coach-kavis-reed-talks-about-eliminating-the-noise-in-final-media-scrum
http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/edmonton-eskimos-head-coach-kavis-reed-talks-about-eliminating-the-noise-in-final-media-scrum#respondMon, 04 Nov 2013 00:12:27 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=183033]]>In three seasons as the Edmonton Eskimos head coach, Kavis Reed made the playoffs twice, reached the West Final once and slogged his way through a 4-14 nightmare in 2013.

The first two years, Reed worked under Eric Tillman, whose stormy tenure as Eskimos GM will be remembered for his having traded franchise quarterback Ricky Ray.

Before Ray left, he led Reed’s team to that West Final berth, back in 2011, a loss to the B.C. Lions, who won the Grey Cup that season.

The 2012 season was tumultuous on and off the field, as Reed did his best to coach a team without a reliable quarterback, since Ray had been shipped to Toronto, and Tillman’s grasp on the helm in Edmonton was slipping.

As Reed said Sunday, though, a head coach is evaluated on W’s and L’s (wins and losses), and never mind the extenuating circumstances. Fair or not, that is the nature of the beast.

Here’s Kavis Reed unplugged, one more time after the disappointing 2013 season has mercifully ended.

]]>http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/edmonton-eskimos-head-coach-kavis-reed-talks-about-eliminating-the-noise-in-final-media-scrum/feed0Kavis ReedrjmackinnonWeek 19 CFL picks and Mike Reilly's best Halloween costumehttp://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/week-19-cfl-picks-and-mike-reillys-best-halloween-costume
http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/week-19-cfl-picks-and-mike-reillys-best-halloween-costume#respondFri, 01 Nov 2013 15:56:07 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=182797]]>What do you call this week? With four games left on the schedule that have zero impact on the playoff picture in the CFL, everyone is trying to get through this weekend injury-free so they can make that all-important next step into the playoffs.

Well, just about everyone. Winnipeg and Edmonton are the odd teams out, both sitting at three wins on the season. You could argue though, that for the Bombers and Esks, these season-finale games are very winnable and should mean more to them than the other six teams in the league that have something else to play for.

So what do you call a week like this? If it weren’t for the crushing effects of a three-win season in Edmonton, it would feel like a preseason game. It kind of still does, if you can put everything you’ve seen to this point behind you (good luck with that). With the Riders likely resting Darian Durant and Kavis Reed speaking this week about ensuring he gets all three of his quarterbacks some snaps, it doesn’t feel like a regular season game. As I write this, it’s a wet, one-degree morning in Regina. So weather-wise, the setting is accurate for an end-of-season game. The best I can do with all of this is pre-postseason. If you’ve followed the Esks all year though, you’re probably happy that the end is near and that the opportunity for improvement awaits this winter.

We can get into that more this weekend and next week, though. We’re here to talk winners and losers, right? Trying to make picks in four pre-postseason games is no easy feat and really, this week more than any other this season, I feel like no one will have much of an idea of what’s going to happen. I think experience tends to win out in these situations but in the end, will anyone remember these games when next season rolls around? Will anyone remember them next week when the playoffs start? Just like the players will say this weekend, let’s get through this.

Coming off of a 4-0 weekend, I’m sitting at 41-27 this year, which is a personal best in two years of submitting picks to the Calgary Herald.

Montreal at Toronto — Argos fans — and Ottawa RedBlacks fans — get another look at Zach Collaros this week, as every playoff team in the league tries to get through this final week injury free. You never now what you’re going to see in these end-of-season games, but the Argos have been the more consistent of the two teams this season and that should bode well for them. Remember last year when the Argos had the second-seed in the East locked up and still knocked the Tiger-Cats out of the playoffs with a Swayze Waters game-winning field goal? There are ways to generate good momentum from here to take into the postseason. Expect the Argos to do that. — Toronto

Calgary at B.C. — Buck Pierce gets the start this week, as the Lions look to try and get back on track in their at-home finale, a week after pulling the rug out from under a very beatable Edmonton team. Kevin Glenn should feel like he’s got something to prove, after a turnover-laden showing last week against the Riders that saw him benched for the second half of their eventual win. Still, the Lions are tough at home and provided Pierce can stay healthy (always an iffy subject), he could inject some hope into a team that’s limped through the last month on its journey to the post-season. — B.C.

Hamilton at Winnipeg — Henry Burris, for some reason, is going to start on Saturday against the Bombers, even though the Ti-Cats have their spot in second-place in the East solidified. In the final week of a dismal 3-14 season, the Bombers shouldn’t be much of a chore to push over if Hamilton can strike quickly. The Bombers are playing for pride, playing for jobs, etc. but really, just like in Edmonton, they’re playing out the clock. Bombers fans have had to endure a brutal season inside a gorgeous new stadium. Hopefully next year there’s something better happening on the field there. — Hamilton

Edmonton at Saskatchewan — One province over from Manitoba, another playoff-bound team is trying to run things safely and smoothly against an opponent that just wants this season to be over. Saturday’s game in Regina is the most winnable one the Eskimos have seen since they were in their home-and-home series with Winnipeg, but this season has been a long, painful lesson on what the Eskimos can’t do (win). What they very well could do is find a way to lose against the Riders’ B-team and stumble their way into the record books as a historically bad Eskimos team. The Riders have bigger fish to fry. This should be a nice appetizer before the first course comes to town the following week. — Saskatchewan

Mike Reilly’s best Halloween costume? His former boss

Some small talk with Mike Reilly yesterday unearthed a funny story about his best Halloween costume.

“In 2011 I went as Wally Buono,” Reilly said. “I had a grey, poofy wig and I put the glasses on…he always had a toothpick in his mouth that year so I rocked that. That was probably my crown jewel of Halloween costumes.”

Reilly said there are a few pictures of him in the costume but Buono didn’t see him in the costume.

“I don’t know if he’s ever seen it, to this day,” Reilly said. “Some of my teammates saw it…. I have a picture of it somewhere but I’m sure he’d take it all in stride. He’s got a good sense of humour.”

]]>http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/week-19-cfl-picks-and-mike-reillys-best-halloween-costume/feed0Reilly CharlesolearychrisMonday's O-Line: What ifs and the future with Matt Nichols; wondering how we cover footballhttp://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/mondays-o-line-what-ifs-and-the-future-with-matt-nichols-wondering-how-we-cover-football
http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/mondays-o-line-what-ifs-and-the-future-with-matt-nichols-wondering-how-we-cover-football#respondMon, 21 Oct 2013 17:15:22 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=181609]]>From a 3-13 season to a litany of off-field distractions (consequences, call-outs and concussions, to alliteratively name a few), it’s been easy to lose sight of Matt Nichols over the last few months.

It seems like a lifetime ago that Nichols was on the field, putting together a very pre-season-like first quarter against the Riders in June (five-of-seven passing for 88 yards and a pair of interceptions) when the Eskimos’ quarterback picture was forced into a finished work.

Trying to make a tackle on that second interception he threw, Nichols tore his ACL and ended the team’s training camp QB showdown. With the announcement that Nichols was out for the season, Mike Reilly became the team’s starter and the offence had no choice but to move forward.

As John MacKinnon wrote this past week, Nichols has been present with the team all season. He’s in meetings, he’s a voice in the locker-room at halftime, he’s still an extra set of eyes for Reilly. Most important, he’s rehabbing and getting his knee stronger for next season.

What next season holds for Nichols is the question.

As Nichols told Dave Campbell and Morley Scott in their pre-game show on 630 CHED on Friday night, his contract is up this season. Given how well Reilly has played this year and given the needs of other teams around the league (Ottawa has a few QBs to draft/sign and Winnipeg is in the market for a starter), our limited glimpses of Nichols over the last four years could be all we ever see of him in Eskimos’ colours.

Nichols made his intentions on the matter clear.

“It’s going to be a crazy offseason for the league, not just for quarterbacks, but every team is going to lose four guys I think,” he told CHED, referring to the upcoming RedBlacks’ expansion draft. “There’s going to be a lot of mixup. For me personally, I love it here, I’ve been here for four years now and I’d love to see this thing turned around. I’d love to be back in Edmonton and that’s my goal. It’s not something I can really totally control. Whatever happens this offseason happens, but I’d love to be here next year. ”

When Ed Hervey traded for and signed Reilly in January, he spoke about recreating that Ricky Ray and Jason Maas dynamic, where both quarterbacks pushed one another to play their best. Considering everything Reilly has done this year to establish himself as the starter, it’d take Nichols coming into camp and playing lights out football to unearth what Reilly has built this year. Always a team-first guy, Nichols seems to realize the challenge in front of him

“I think I have a lot to offer here,” he said on Friday. “I’m only 26 but I’ve been in the league for four years. I think having that kind of competition makes guys better. I’d love to be back here and compete for a job.”

Kavis Reed was asked about Nichols when the team was in Regina on Oct. 11. He said then that stability at that position is crucial.

“Mike’s play has asserted him as the leader of this football team, as arguably the face of the franchise. Because of his performance he’s our starting quarterback,” Reed said. “I feel right now for the franchise moving forward that it’s Mike’s football team, it’s Mike’s job.

“You do not want controversy on the football team at any level. You never want it at the quarterback position because that is a position of stability.”

You wonder, though — I wonder, anyway — what would have happened this year if Nichols were healthy? Who would have won that QB showdown in training camp? Even if it were Reilly, when he and the rest of the offence struggled in the first few weeks of the season, how quickly would Nichols have been put into games? Remember back to Weeks 4 and 5 when Reilly looked shaky in losses to B.C. and Montreal. The team toyed with the idea of using Jonathan Crompton. He took over for Reilly in the second quarter in Montreal in Week 5 and showed he wasn’t ready for the speed of the game yet and the team had no choice but to tough it out with Reilly. Reed now looks at that second half against the Als as Reilly’s turning point in his development.

If Nichols were there, where would Reilly be right now in terms of his development? Conversely, if Nichols had struggled, how quickly would Reilly have gone back in? You never want to see injuries, but this one forced the Eskimos to stick with Reilly early in the season and he’s better for it now.

Here’s CHED’s full interview with Reilly from Friday, if you haven’t heard it yet.

I covered the NFL over four decades dating back to 1972. Now semi-retired myself and five years removed from day-to-day football coverage, I have one main regret: not focusing more of my reporting and writing on the absolute brutality of the sport, particularly the painful post-football lives of so many players.

While a headline-grabbing injury like a concussion or spinal damage deploys all kinds of little red flags for me, I’ve grown desensitized to the everyday violence of football and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

Blown knees, hyperextended limbs, broken bones and the many lifelong-damaged vets that limp and ache and forget around us grease the wheels of this machine. And I get it, I know what it’s like to love a sport so much that you would put your body at risk rather than not play it (though to my detriment, basketball’s risks and injuries reside in a much more peaceful game-time atmosphere, even at its most competitive levels). I could poll every player in the Esks locker-room today and they’d all tell me the same thing: They love the violence of the game and they know the risks involved. And on some level I think all of us who watch, either as fans or media, know the risks too. But on some level we also love the violence and the carnage and the warriors that are celebrated for emerging from it. Shapiro said it better than I can:

The game is appealing and appalling at the same time. And I have no doubt that all of us, news media included, will continue to feed the beast, even if the beast keeps feeding on its own.

]]>http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/mondays-o-line-what-ifs-and-the-future-with-matt-nichols-wondering-how-we-cover-football/feed0Nichols 1olearychrisTuesday's O-Line: Everyone dropped the ball with Mike Reillyhttp://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/tuesdays-o-line-everyone-dropped-the-ball-with-mike-reilly
http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/tuesdays-o-line-everyone-dropped-the-ball-with-mike-reilly#respondTue, 08 Oct 2013 17:08:14 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=179997]]>In the wake of the Eskimos’ bizarre use of Mike Reilly on Saturday against Montreal, the flavour of the week seems to be to clock the time of death on Kavis Reed’s tenure as the team’s head coach. As John MacKinnon thoughtfully mapped out in Monday’s Journal, there’s more to this decision and the rot of the Eskimos in general than just a head coach.

The Eskimos had an entire week to do the smart thing and bench Mike Reilly. Doing so when they announced his concussion last Sunday would have not only taken the week-long uproar around the team out of the picture, it would have provided clarity for the team as it got ready for a still very important game against the Alouettes. Jonathan Crompton could have taken all of the reps he needed to last week in practice, instead of the 50 per cent he got last Tuesday, then a third on Wednesday and Thursday. Maybe Reed didn’t want to go along with that, but there are people who outrank him — general manager Ed Hervey and team president and CEO Len Rhodes — that had ample opportunity to step in and provide that much-needed clarity.

Reed, Hervey and Rhodes shielded themselves under the blanket of how the league would handle discipline and/or suspensions (Cleyon Laing was fined but not suspended) and returning players’ protocol going forward. This was a time for the Eskimos organization to step up, protect their player (demanding more action be taken against Laing would have helped their cause too) and set an example for the league in how they handled this. None of that happened.

“I feel the same way as the league, that they’re doing everything they can to help with the way that the game is played and player safety is the No. 1 issue,” Hervey said at last week’s press conference regarding Reilly’s concussion.

“As we (teams and the league) meet every year at our meetings, that’s the No. 1 focus, is to eliminate these type of plays and ensure that our players are able to play the game the entire season. Again, it is a physical game. These type of hits, especially the ones to the head (removing them) will make the game safe. We’re working on that and I have full confidence that the league will accomplish those goals.”

At the Canadian Football Hall of Fame jacket ceremony on Wednesday night, Rhodes went a similar route when asked about Reilly.

“From a club standpoint we would never, ever put our players in jeopardy if we thought there was a serious issue. Ever,” Rhodes said.

“We’re going to keep the dialogue and keep it improving. There are people on the field that have a certain vantage point — again, even watching it live I didn’t see (the concussion-inducing hit). What we know after the fact is that it happened and that we’re going to do something about it. The fact that there was a fine levied was very, very important.

“Would I have liked to have seen suspensions on plays like that? Probably, but I understand that everyone has to protect their interests: The players, the players’ association, the clubs, the league, but we all do have a common interest in player safety. How we approach that we’ll have to continue to work together to do that.”

When it came time for the league to make a decision on Laing, what happened? They handled this first:

“The Canadian Football League announced today that it has fined Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant for violating the CFL’s Social Media Policy by sending an offensive and inappropriate tweet in response to a CFL fan.

As per league policy, the amounts of the fines are not disclosed.”

News on Laing came in a separate email, more than an hour later.

The Canadian Football League announced today that it has fined Toronto Argonaut defensive lineman Cleyon Laing for a reckless and dangerous hit to the head of Edmonton Eskimo quarterback Mike Reilly.

It was determined that on the play, Laing lowered his head and led with his helmet, making primary contact with the helmet of his opponent.

Laing was penalized for unnecessary roughness on the play.

As per league policy, the amounts of the fines are not disclosed.

It’s a little thing, but combine that with the Eskimos’ terribly executed plans with Reilly on and off of the field this past week, and it’s a big black eye for the league as to how it handles concussions and the plays that create them.

I see Ed Hervey on the field at Eskimos practice every day, patrolling the sidelines, talking with players, mingling with his coaches. You can’t convince me that he didn’t know that his team’s game plan for its star QB was to not allow him to leave the pocket and rush, or take more than a read off of a snap. I’d ask him myself but on my last direct interview request (after their loss to Toronto on Sept. 28), I got the GM’s back and a resounding, “No!”

Kavis Reed is at fault for going ahead with this terrible (and risky) game plan, but there were many weak links in the chain along the way that allowed Saturday’s embarrassment of a showing to happen, through the Eskimos higher-ups and to a larger extent to the league as well. When you coach a team to three wins — and that may well be all they get this season, considering the Eskimos’ final four opponents — change is likely to come.

But this fiasco with Mike Reilly? This is something the entire Eskimos organization wears.

Week-end winners

Game of the week: Saskatchewan at B.C. — Nothing pretty to choose from in a quartet of blowouts, but Kory Sheets’ return underlined his importance to his team (if their record in his absence didn’t already). Sheets’ 14 runs for 80 yards and two TDs, and six catches for 41 yards helped hand the Lions their first loss at BC Place this season. And that’s noteworthy, even if the score wasn’t.

Players of the week (identical to the league’s picks, announced this morning).

Defence: Jerald Brown, Montreal — Three tackles and two interceptions, as a part of the Als’ dominant win over the Eskimos.

Special teams: Will Ford, Winnipeg — A rare Bombers’ bright spot. A 100-yard kick-return TD in another big, painful loss for a team that’s been kicked as much or more than the Eskimos this year.

Retweetable

]]>http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/tuesdays-o-line-everyone-dropped-the-ball-with-mike-reilly/feed0ReillyolearychrisKS SG MR SG SW SG TM SG Edmonton Eskimos Way has veered into the ditch — major change needed to retool broken franchisehttp://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/edmonton-eskimos-way-has-veered-into-the-ditch-major-change-needed-to-retool-broken-franchise
http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/edmonton-eskimos-way-has-veered-into-the-ditch-major-change-needed-to-retool-broken-franchise#respondMon, 07 Oct 2013 02:32:21 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=180408]]>The events of the last week in Edmonton in this sorry CFL season have graphically illustrated the once-great 3-11 Eskimos franchise still can throw a mighty swish annual fund-raising banquet.

It’s the winning at football part that has become so elusive, has been since the Eskimos won their 13th and most recent Grey Cup, back in 2005.

The causes of this chronic mediocrity are myriad and profound. So, no doubt, are the remedies.

There is a point of view abroad in the marketplace that head coach Kavis Reed should be dismissed once this dreadful season has reached its conclusion. Which, by the way, could well wind up at 3-15, for those still bothering to keep score at home.

Reed’s lack of job security has been an open secret much of this season, despite the contract extension he signed. It was no secret at all after GM Ed Hervey’s post-Labour Day eruption, when he put Reed and his entire coaching staff “on notice.”

That wasn’t the pink slip; but it absolutely was notice the pink slip was on its way, not just for Reed, but for most of his coaching staff.

The tangible results from Hervey’s public calling out of the coaches and their game planning, in general, and offensive lineman Simeon Rottier, in particular, have been a pair of victories over the dysfunctional Winnipeg Blue Bombers, a tough loss to the Stampeders and thumpings by the Toronto Argonauts and Montreal Alouettes.

The Eskimos also were taken to task for violating the collective bargaining agreement with the CFL Players’ Association by publicly shaming Rottier and reprimanded by the league.

A circus-like chaos has attended much of the Eskimos football operations for far too long. That was supposed to change this season. As the losses have piled up, it has not.

From CEO Len Rhodes sacking former GM Eric Tillman in November 2012 “for no specific reason,” to a secret training camp in Florida last winter, to a $10,000 tampering fine for the eyeblink-quick signing of free agent rush end Odell Willis, to Hervey’s Labour Day eruption, to the whole Mike Reilly ‘will-he-or-won’t-he-play’ concussion fiasco last week, the Eskimos demonstrate organizational clumsiness as if it were encoded in an office training manual.

And, make no mistake, putting the recently concussed Reilly, the franchise quarterback, potentially at risk by playing him in a meaningless game is on Hervey as much as it’s on Reed.

The fashion in which major decisions are made with this community-owned franchise makes you wonder about the reflexes of a team overseen at arm’s length by a volunteer board of directors, makes you question the instincts of leaders who are not steeped in running a successful football franchise.

The Eskimos were fortunate, in the extreme, to be led for two decades (1986-2006) by Hugh Campbell, a former player and coach who also was an astute businessman.

But the succession from Campbell to Rick LeLacheur, as CEO and president, and Danny Maciocia, as head coach and GM, went sideways as LeLacheur gave Maciocia too much authority too soon, probably gave him too much time to rebuild a team that ‘retired,’ in effect, after 2005.

So desperate were LeLacheur and then-board chair Doug Goss to reverse the Eskimos fortunes, they brought in the baggage-laden Tillman, whose tenure is noteworthy for the club’s appearance in the West Final in 2011, for a severely toxic atmosphere in the club’s football operations department, and for the lopsided trade of quarterback Ricky Ray, the franchise QB for a decade.

By the time the full extent of the subsequent damage became clear, LeLacheur had retired, and Goss had moved on. So, it fell to Rhodes, a rookie CEO to dismiss Tillman. He did it clumsily, but he did it.

Since Hugh Campbell left in 2006, the Eskimos have had three head coaches. The door to the assistants quarters, particularly the offensive and defensive co-ordinators, has been a turnstile. That turnstile would spin some more were Reed to be dismissed.

From 2006 onward, the Eskimos have made the playoffs four times in the user-friendly CFL, made the East and West Finals once apiece.

They also have compiled an execrable 59-80-1 regular-season record, with four games left this season, and are 2-4 in the playoffs.

And are the Eskimos under first-year GM Hervey on the pathway back to on field excellence? Hervey did acquire Reilly, a key piece for the future.

But by his own words and actions from training camp on out, he has not surrounded his quarterback with sufficient protection on the offensive line. Suffice to say, his record, so far, is similarly mixed.

Board chair Bruce Bentley told the Hall of Fame gala dinner crowd on Thursday night, the Eskimos are in better shape now than they were in Oct. 2012. But comparing the present to the nadir of the Tillman administration is setting the bar mighty low.

Campbell, currently the defensive co-ordinator for the Calgary Stampeders, is a good man and a capable coach, one with aspirations to be a head guy.

If Rick Campbell were to return — a big if — he would do so with the same sort of baggage he carried, through no fault of his own, when he was with the Eskimos before — that he was aided by his dad’s influence.

Hugh Campbell may well have helped Hervey in his successful bid to become GM. Hervey certainly has consulted with the elder Campbell, on occasion, over the past year.

On a team that seems blind to dicey optics, tone-deaf to concerns as serious as the health of its franchise quarterback, a potential Campbell hire could produce more clumsiness.

But the Eskimos problems go far above and beyond a coaching change, or some roster moves.

Before they scapegoat a coach or a GM or whomever, they should do a complete organizational audit. The Eskimo Way isn’t working; it has to change, top to bottom.

]]>http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/edmonton-eskimos-way-has-veered-into-the-ditch-major-change-needed-to-retool-broken-franchise/feed0ReillyrjmackinnonEdmonton Eskimos head coach Kavis Reed apologizes to fans after 47-24 loss to Alshttp://edmontonjournal.com/sports/edmonton-eskimos-head-coach-kavis-reed-apologizes-to-fans-following-37-24-loss-to-alouettes
http://edmontonjournal.com/sports/edmonton-eskimos-head-coach-kavis-reed-apologizes-to-fans-following-37-24-loss-to-alouettes#respondSat, 05 Oct 2013 23:26:37 +0000http://blogs.edmontonjournal.com/?p=180314]]>Eskimos head coach Kavis Reed apologized to Edmonton football fans Saturday, not merely for the 47-24 loss to the Montreal Alouettes, but for a season gone badly wrong.

The sorryest performers for the Eskimos in their latest butt-whipping were the players on defence, who failed to show up, gave up touchdowns on Montreal’s first three posessions, making the rest of the game largely moot.

“It’s extremely disappointing. I apologize to our fans that we didn’t give them the season they deserved,” Reed said.

Here’s the audio of what Reed had to say in his typically candid, straightforward post-game scrum.

And here’s my column from the Saturday debacle.

Eskimos head coach Kavis Reed opened with a heartfelt apology for the game, a 47-24 drubbing by the Montreal Alouettes, and for a season gone badly wrong.

But he made no apology for starting quarterback Mike Reilly seven days after he suffered a concussion from a helmet-to-helmet hit by Cleyon Laing in a 34-22 loss to the Toronto Argonauts.

And, indeed, Reilly’s performance was less spotty than many of his teammates, particularly on defence, on Saturday afternoon in a game that did no justice to the Hall of Fame billing it received.

But Reilly was handicapped because the 3-11 Eskimos eliminated plays from the game plan that would put their franchise quarterback at risk — the option plays, the quarterback draws and the like.

In other words, the Eskimos played him, but did their best to protect him with bubble wrap, which is impossible. And with predictable results.

“Extremely disappointing,” Reed said, responding to a question in the post-game reporters’ scrum. “I apologize to our fans that we didn’t give them the kind of season they deserve. That’s a personal apology and it’s extremely disappointing that we’ve played this way today again.”

The Eskimos started badly on Saturday and things swiftly worsened. The Alouettes, behind second-string, work-in-progress quarterback Josh Neiswander, scored touchdowns on their first three possessions. Easy-peasy.

The Alouettes quarterback, who has shown little affinity for offensive continuity this season for the now 6-8 Alouettes, engineered a five-play, 88 yard drive that consumed 2:45 minutes; a three-play drive that covered 93 yards in 1:24 and a nine-play march over 75 yards in 4:38.

Thus did the Alouettes assemble a 21-3 lead just four minutes into the second quarter. So efficient and dominant was their offence behind the neophyte Neiswander that Montreal didn’t have to punt the ball until midway through the second quarter.

Sorry? That describes the play of Edmonton’s supposedly cohesive, talented defence.

“Montreal was very efficient offensively,” Reed said. “We didn’t play the way we (normally) play. If I’m not mistaken, their first three drives resulted in touchdowns. We didn’t foresee that one coming, definitely.”

Reed was at a loss for words to describe the defence, and so was the normally voluble rush end Odell Willis.

“Honestly, I don’t know what to tell you,” a subdued Willis said. “They just called better plays than we did.
“The game plan didn’t work. They countered what we had and they put up points. We couldn’t stop them.”

As for the abbreviated offensive game plan the Eskimos deployed, Reed did his best to defend a scheme that suggests management insisted Reilly start the game, with the result that the coaching staff did its best to minimize the risk of injury to Reilly.

It’s not clear that dynamic is what in fact took place, but it would not be out of place for a franchise that has hardly been sending a unified message this dreadful season.

Think back to Labour Day when general manager Ed Hervey verbally barbecued the coaching staff, who responded the next day that things were “business as usual.”

Yet another mixed message was on display on Saturday in the way Reilly was at once deployed and shackled.

“When you look at the whole thing, you wanted to make certain that Mike was cleared to play and Mike wanted to play,” Reed said. “We felt emotionally and mentally he was ready to play.

“But play-calling wise, we wanted to make certain we didn’t put him in a situation where he was exposed to protection breakdowns, like running the football and all those things. We wanted to be very careful in how we used him and managed the game that way.”

Reed said that did not make the Eskimos offence easier to defend, or more predictable. Self-inflicted wounds — penalties, interceptions
— took care of that. There was something in that argument.

Well, that and the Alouettes steamrollering over the Eskimos defence to that early three-score lead, which left little doubt about the outcome of the game well before halftime.

The sorry performance by the Eskimos in a game with playoff implications only for the most optimistic of fanatics, made the use of Reilly at all on Saturday the more inexplicable.

If you’re a self-described “rebuilding” team, you might as well take your lumps with a rookie quarterback like Jonathan Crompton and be overcautious with your starter and rest him.

Certainly, many in the local media gave the club a free pass to go ahead and play the rookie, let him learn.

In the end, Crompton did take his lumps; he did learn some lessons. He completed 13 of 26 passes for 204 yards, three fourth-quarter TDs and as many interceptions.

Reilly completed 13 of 21 attempts for 180 yards and two picks while playing with that limited playbook and clearly trying to unload the ball quickly on every play, so as not to be at risk of being hit by the aggressive Montreal defence.

He absorbed only one hard hit in his half of the game, a clean, body tackle by veteran Alouettes defender Kyries Hebert.

But he should not have played. Not merely to appease nervous nellies in the press box, but so the club could have prepared in a focused way all week for the game.

Instead, quarterback reps were divided among Reilly, Crompton and Kerry Joseph, while all week long the issue of who would start remained uncertain.

That’s hardly the way to prepare for a game that, in theory, was crucial to the club’s faint playoff hopes. Now, the only hope Edmonton has is to win its remaining four games, while Montreal loses the rest of theirs.

This is the CFL, but that fairy tale is not about to come true. Not in this Bizarro-world of a season for this sorry Eskimos franchise, it isn’t.

“The Edmonton Eskimo Football Club announces quarterback Mike Reilly will start in today’s game against the Montreal Alouettes.”

The announcement comes less than 24 hours after the team announced that Reilly had been medically cleared to play in this afternoon’s game and a week after suffering a concussion off of a violent helmet-to-helmet hit in a loss to the Toronto Argonauts.

Reilly’s return to play has been a hotly contested topic all week in Edmonton and around the Canadian Football League. At 3-10, the Eskimos are three games behind the 5-8 Alouettes for a crossover spot in the East Division playoffs. Using Reilly, the Eskimos are intent on becoming the first 3-10 team in 20 years to find its way into the playoffs.

Updates on the game follow, with the freshest news just below.

Update, 3:13 p.m. — Jonathan Crompton is in at QB for the Eskimos for the team’s first possession in the third quarter. Reilly is on the bench, wearing an Eskimos tuque.

2:42 p.m. — Things have gone downhill quickly. Reilly was intercepted by Mike Edem, which got Neiswander out on the field again. The rookie QB hit Arland Bruce for a six-yard touchdown pass. Reilly had a long conversation with Kavis Reed on the sideline but is back in the game now, having just wrapped up a two-and-out. The offence and defence are deflated. It’s 31-3 for Montreal with a minute to play in the half.

2:26 p.m. — We’re getting into a bad rhythm here. Down 21-3 now, after a nine-play, 75-yard Montreal TD drive that backup QB Troy Smith finished off from a yard out, Reilly and the Eskimos had a short possession. He took a clean hit from Als’ linebacker Kyries Hebert and quickly bounced up. Scrambling out of the pocket, Reilly saw a trio of defenders zeroing in on him and threw the ball away. While the Als defence isn’t going easy on Reilly, they seem to be cautious with him so far, only bodying him when they need to.

2:09 p.m. — Another update, another Montreal scoring drive. It took the Als three plays to cover 93 yards, before S.J. Green fumbled on his way into the end zone, recovered and scored. Down 14-0, Reilly took his first big hit of the game, a late hit after he threw the ball, from Montreal’s Mike Edem. The penalty flag flew quickly and pushed the Esks’ to the Montreal 17. Reilly jumped back up to his feet and threw one more pas before the drive fizzled. Hugh O’Neill came back in and got some mock cheers for his made 24-yard field goal. It’s 14-3 for Montreal now, two minutes into the second quarter.

1:53 p.m. — After Josh Neiswander led a five-play, 88-yard touchdown drive for Montreal (up 7-0) Reilly brought the Eskimos out on a promising drive that got them as far as Montreal’s red zone. Relatively untouched on his quick-read plays, Reilly made his first mistake of the game and was intercepted by Montreal defensive back Jerald Brown, who ran the ball back to Montreal’s own 18-yard line.

1:46 p.m. — Reilly looked like his old self on the team’s first drive of the game. His 25-yard pass to Adarius Bowman highlighted the Esks’ short drive. Reilly took very little contact on the field and is now on the bench with his receivers and O.C. Doug Sams. Meanwhile, Hugh O’Neill capped the drive with a 48-yard missed field goal, keeping the score 0-0.